Open, Youth & National Award winners of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards

Selected from over 70,000 entries from across the world, the achievement of each of the winners from across the three competitions is extraordinary - both in terms of the number of photographs they have been chosen from but also that the photographers themselves are not professionals, but individuals who are passionate about photography, enthusiasts and amateurs.

All three competitions were judged on a single shot and prizes range from the latest Sony digital imaging equipment to trips to London to attend the Sony World Photography Awards gala ceremony on 30 April. The 10 Open winners will also compete for a $5,000 (USD) prize and the Overall Open Photographer of the Year title.

All the winning photographers can also enjoy the international exposure and recognition brought to them and their image by the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards.

Open Competition

Open to all photography enthusiasts, the jury, chaired by Nigel Atherton, Group Editor, IPC Photo, UK, selected ten category winners who are:

• Architecture – Holger Schmidtke, Germany
• Arts and Culture – Valerie Prudon, Australia
• Enhanced – Kylli Sparre, Estonia
• Low Light - Vlad Eftenie, Romania
• Nature & Wildlife – Gert van den Bosch, Netherlands
• Panoramic – Ivan Pedretti, Italy
• People - Arup Ghosh, India
• Smile - Alpay Erdem, Turkey
• Split Second - Hairul Azizi Harun, Malaysia
• Travel - Li Chen, China

Nigel Atherton said: “Photography is a language that transcends national borders and cultures, race, gender and social background. Its poetry touches the hearts and minds of people all over the world and nowhere is this better demonstrated than in these awards. No two of this year’s Open category winners are from the same country but all share the ability to visually interpret the world around them in a unique and captivating way. The winning and shortlisted images demonstrate this gift with aplomb.”

Youth Competition

Open to photographers under the age of 20, the Youth competition uncovers emerging talent. The category winners are:

• Culture - Borhan Mardani, Iran
• Environment – Turjoy Chowdhury, Bangladesh
• Portraits - Paulina Metzscher, Germany

From the three category winners, one overall Youth Photographer of the Year will be selected and will be flown to London to collect their award on 30 April.

National Awards

Thirty-eight countries, from Colombia to New Zealand, Kenya to the Nordics, took part in the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards’ National Award programme. The National Awards uncover and honour the best single image taken by a local photographer and are judged by a local jury of photography experts. Creative Boom is excited to reveal the UK winners: Simon Butterworth, Simon Morris and Sean Batten.

A full list of the winners of the National Awards programme can be seen at www.worldphoto.org. Tickets for the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London are now on sale.